Conventional windguards are fairly simple structures, and include an elongated pipe-like member, often referred to as a windguard pipe, extending across the front of the pickup mechanism with a plurality of tines attached to the windguard pipe along its length extending rearwardly over the pickup mechanism. This type of windguard may be manually adjusted for different sizes of windrows of crop material by positioning the windguard pipe and the tines closer to the pickup mechanism for small windrows or farther away from the pickup mechanism for large windrows. If the windguard is adjusted for small windrows and a large windrow is encountered, the windguard pipe and tines may be too close to the pickup mechanism to accommodate the large windrow. This could cause plugging of the pickup mechanism. If the windguard is adjusted for large windrows and a small windrow is encountered, the windguard tines may be too far away from the pickup mechanism to protect the small windrow. This could result in wind loss of crop material, or, as mentioned above, difficulties in starting the bale core.
Floating windguards can still impede adequate crop material harvesting in the pickup mechanism due to the ends of the windguard tines obstructing the pickup guard as the pickup tines rotate in operation.